Jakob Friedberg

Jakob Friedberg (1665-) was a general of the Holy Roman Empire. A veteran of the War of the League of Augsburg, the Ottoman-Habsburg Wars, and the War of the Spanish Succession, he was called an "uncle to his men" for his close comradeship.

Biography
Friedberg was born in Dessau in the Holy Roman Empire in the present-day Czech Republic to a Roman Catholic German family. From a young age he was taught prejudice against the Turks by his family and others, and enlisted in the army in 1692. Friedberg originally fought against the Kingdom of France in the War of the League of Augsburg but in 1697 was transferred to the war with the Ottoman Empire in The Balkans. He fought in the battles for Hungary and Croatia and became steady under fire, and was made a Colonel after the Battle of Zenta.

During Austria's war with Spain and France in the War of the Spanish Succession in 1704, Friedberg was guaranteed additional promotion as a General in the Austrian Netherlands (present-day Belgium), recently conquered from Spain. He was made the new commander of the garrison of the major city of Brussels after the death of General Ralf Dobrizhoffer.